CHRISTMAS TREES 



319 



The Douglas fir is readily recognized by the decorative 

 trifid outer scales or " bracts " of the rather short cone 

 (Fig. 42). When freshly grown these cones have beau- 

 tiful purple tints mingled with pale green. 



The larches and cedars form the second group or 

 section of the Abietinas, distinguished by the fact that 

 the needle-like leaves grow 

 in tufts of twenty to forty 

 at the end of short stumpy 

 branchlets or " spurs " (Fig. 

 38). In the larches, which 

 form the genus Larix, the 

 needles fall off every autumn 

 and leave the tree bare, the 

 annually renewed feathery 

 foliage contrasting, by its 

 fresh bright green colour, with 

 the darker hues of the per- 

 sistent needles of other coni- 

 fers. The common larch 

 (Larix Europoea) is a native of 

 the mountainous regions of 

 Central Europe. The French 

 call it MdUze. There are 

 Himalayan, Japanese, rand 

 North American species. 

 The common larch when full-grown is 100 feet and more 

 in height, and has the branches arranged in whorls of 

 diminishing length, so as to give the " Christmas-tree 

 shape " so common among coniferae. It was introduced 

 into England in the seventeenth century. 



Fig. 38.— Cone and foliage (many 

 needles in each tuft) of the 

 Common Larch, Larix Euro- 

 poea. Of the natural size. 



The cedars closely resemble the larches, but have the 

 leaves or needles persistent, and the large cones take 



